Anti-abortion groups yesterday reacted with fury to government plans to offer women faster and easier terminations by widening the availability of the "abortion pill" which induces a miscarriage.

Under the proposals family planning centres will be able to administer the treatment, previously only available on hospital wards and in special day units.

The Department of Health is planning to pilot the scheme in an attempt to eliminate the wide variation in waiting times across the country and reduce the levels of stress women waiting for a termination are exposed to.

But the Pro-Life Alliance accused the government of being irresponsible and claimed the move would increase pressure on women to have an abortion rather than consider other options.

"You save a lot of money not using anaesthetics. It is quicker, easier and cheaper - I would put cheaper in very big capitals," said a spokeswoman, Josephine Quintavalle.

The Department of Health hit back, saying the scheme was not about increasing access to abortion or saving money and that strict controls will still apply.

"At the moment, some women have to wait up to six weeks," a spokesman said. "The sooner a termination is carried out the lower the risk of complications both physical and psychological."

A medical abortion, which has to be carried out in the first nine weeks of a pregnancy, avoids the need for surgery altogether and involves the woman taking two doses of separate drugs. The first blocks the hormone needed to make a fertilised egg cling to the womb lining. The second drug, taken 48 hours later, triggers contractions which cause the foetus to be lost.

During the pilot scheme only family planning centres located in hospital trust premises will be able to offer the procedure, while patients will still be required to obtain certification from two doctors before they can go ahead.

"It will still take place within the current legal framework. It is not a case that it will be on the high street," a DoH spokesman said.

The announcement was welcomed by the Family Planning Association as a sensible move to make medical abortions more easily available.

"The current inequality of access to medical abortion is ludicrous," said FPA chief executive Anne Weyman. "In some areas it is not offered at all in the first nine weeks of pregnancy, despite being an alternative to surgical abortion that many women prefer.

"It is right that women have control over their fertility and the ability to make choices about their reproductive health. The government is right to support them in this."

But Nuala Scarisbrick, of Life, said: "Women's bodies seem to be targeted at every stage by a government which seems to be obsessed with abortion more so than any other government in the past 30 years."

"This DIY abortion is accompanied by extremely heavy bleeding. Massive doses of hormones are needed in order to get rid of the baby. It raises questions about the long-term consequences on women's health and fertility," she said.

The Tory party deputy leader, Michael Ancram, condemned the move, claiming it was socially damaging and morally questionable.

He added: "I think a lot of people are damaged by the experience of abortion. I think if anybody is undergoing that, it has to be on a very serious basis.

The Liberal Democrats' health spokesman, Evan Harris, said the party supported medical rather than surgical terminations, provided they were safe and effective.